


Pretending

by Baileys



Series: What Family's For [4]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s06e12 Corazón, Family, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Headaches & Migraines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-06
Updated: 2016-03-06
Packaged: 2018-05-25 01:55:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6175810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baileys/pseuds/Baileys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reid's secret comes out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pretending

Corazon S6  
...  
Reid walked down the corridor holding his head. He hurt worse now than he did waking up this morning, if that was even possible and the bright light reflecting of the plain, seemingly endless white walls was just making it worse. Stumbling to the row of familiar hard plastic chair pushed up against one wall, Reid’s only focus was on placing one foot carefully in front of the other to keep from keeling over. A door slamming somewhere behind him made him jump, shoulders reaching ears, whole body feeling heavy, as if gravity had suddenly decided to press upon his head until he bled. The resulting echo of the boom bounced between his ears and in his preoccupation of keeping his stomach contents down he bumped into someone. A man judging by the large shiny black dress shoes he was staring at intently. 

“Sorry,” he mumbled to the polished beyond reason pair.

Trying to keep his head as still as possible, he attempted to step around. The shoes sided stepped with him. 

Reid frowned and tried to go the other way, but again the shoes followed blocking his path. Frustrated with the shoes and the persistent pounding behind his eyes Reid jerked his head back prepared to apologize again and end this, but immediately reeled, taking a stumbling step back. A pair of strong hands now grasping his biceps the only thing preventing his inevitable fall.

“Hello Spencer,” Hotch spoke seriously, righting him on his feet before letting go.

Surprised beyond words Spencer blurted, “What are you doing here?” 

Adding a smile to cover for the broken squeak, Reid knew it would have been better if he’d kept his mouth shut. Hotch merely smiled sadly back, it was almost pitying and Reid realised what that smile meant. Hotch knew. Gaze instantly flicking to the floor, top teeth biting into his lower lip Reid felt the traitorous tears gathering, blurring his sight. He refused to blink and let them fall, he was stronger than that. 

“Reid,” Hotch tighten the grip on his shoulder. “I'm here for you.”

...

12 hours earlier -Miami

'Oh, I err pretended to have a headache.'

'Pretended.'

'Yeah, pretended.'

Hotch shares a look with Rossi after Reid walks out, without making eye contact with either of them and decides hell no! They are not leaving it there. He passes Dave, who nods approval and follows him out. Coming up from behind at speed he grabs Spencer by his upper arm and marches him over to the waiting SUV, shoving him into the back seat.

"Stay," he disappears and reappears with two pills and a bottle of water.

"What are they for?" Reid merely stares at the pills, as if they're his arch enemy.

"Your headache " Hotch snaps. 

"I said-"

"I know what you said." 

He says no more, only glares.

Reid gingerly takes the pills and water reluctantly, hands shaking, but Hotch knows every trick because he waits for Reid to swallow. Looking sheepish the kid sits back, avoiding eye contact. Hotch curtly reminds him to do up his seat belt, then climbs in the driver’s seat. Morgan joins them minutes later, looking about as blank faced as Hotch, which is never a good sign and hands Reid his vest. They travel to the jet in silence. 

At the airstrip Reid’s only just holding it together, the blossoming headache getting worse feeling the weight of the other's disappointment in him. Tears form, blurring his vision, forcing him to hide behind the group until everyone is settled so they won't see. 

"They're just worried." Rossi opens, coming up on his left just as Reid has taken his seat.

"They seem mad," Reid replies quietly, keeping his focus on the table, clearing his throat to keep the raw emotion out of his voice. 

"Because they're worried." Rossi says without smiling, arms folded over the headrest.

"I'm fine." Reid coughs, clears his throat again.

"No, you're not and everyone knows it." Rossi pauses, Reid can sense his eyes on him, sad questioning eyes which won't quit until he admits the truth. "Question is why are you hiding this from us?"

"It's just headaches, not a big deal." Reid tries to play it down, dismiss, anything to get Rossi to back off so he can break down without an audience.

"Sure." Rossi nods, Reid thinks he's taken the hint. "You also just got taken hostage by a deranged serial killer after going missing at a crime scene, scaring us all half to death. That's no big deal either, right?"

"I, " but words fail him and Rossi walks away.

Halfway into the flight the headache progresses to the puking stage and Reid knows by this point it’s going to be a bad one. He leaves the small bathroom looking worse than when he entered, hands groping the wall in order to stay upright, the bright lights on the jet taunting his already fragile state. 

Just as Reid feels the floor slip out from under him, every muscle in his body turning to jelly, strong hands grab hold of his waist. He feels so weak he's glad to be dehydrated, shuddering at what embarrassment may have happened otherwise.   
"Calm down, I've got you." A strong, comforting, distinctly male voice tells him.

Reid doesn’t try and lift his head to see who the voice belongs to, he's noticing now how fast he's breathing, chest aching as painfully as his head. 

Putting all his energy and concentration into doing as asked Reid relinquishes what little control he still has elsewhere. Reflectively he grabs hold of his rescuers shirt and pulls himself in. The presents of the tie narrows it down to one of two people, but the distinctive lack of strong colon gives him his answer.

"Hotch," Reid squeaks without pulling away. "I'm sorry I lied."

"Shhh, it's okay," Hotch's arms fold around him. "Just tell me what's wrong."

Reid giggles hysterically. "I have a headache." He continues through a sob.

Hotch mumbles some platitudes then asks if he can walk, Reid isn't sure he can and then, as if he'd said that out loud, arms are repositioned around his body and his feet leave the floor completely. Bile rises quickly in his throat as he's spun around and dropped into a seat. Concentrating on swallowing it down again leaves him unresisting to the hand now guiding his head to rest against the solid support of the shoulder next to him and holding in a whimper when he feels the brush of stubble against his own still fairly smooth cheek, a single tear breaks free, slipping from tightly closed eyes over a fever warm cheek.

...

Hotch has been sitting for a while now, choosing to read instead of starting his report. Emily slips into the seat in front of them and he raises a finger to his lips indicating the need for quiet.

"I've only just got him to sleep" he says, matter of fact. 

Emily chuckles. This is a side of Hotch they rarely see at work. They know how hard he's worked because they've all been watching from the front of the jet since after Reid’s collapse. The fidgeting finally stopped twenty minutes ago and Spencer gave into sleep, head still resting comfortably against Hotch’s shoulder.

Reid isn’t out cold, but is relaxed enough to stay in that in between world of waking and sleeping. He can hear Emily talking to Hotch, can feel the vibrations of the older man’s replies through his chest where his head is resting. He thinks he should move, but honestly doesn’t think he has the strength. The icepick is still trying to make deep searing holes through his skull. It isn’t the first time he’s fell asleep on someone either, but aside from a few pictures still lurking on Morgan's phone there's no other evidence. 

Reid eventually opened his eyes nearly twenty minutes later. Looking at Emily still sat opposite, he squints as the light hurt his eyes. She smiles warmly, telling him to go back to sleep. As if resigned to his fate, trusting her Spencer does as instructed and closes his eyes again. Giving into the sheer exhaustion that comes from experiencing such pain and the after effects that will plague him for days. Aware of the compromising position he’s in, but not caring right now he fidgets slightly in Hotch’s hold without pulling away. 

...

Hotch had been waiting for what felt like hours but in reality had only been about 10 minutes. He knew Reid wasn’t often late for things, but when he was it usually meant something was wrong. Anyone else may have thought checking up on one of his team members in their personal time was wrong, but then that person would never have met Reid. 

‘What do you need protecting from?’

He’d asked and Reid had avoided the question. Worse, he’d lied. Not to his face, he’d looked to the floor, to the side, anywhere other than at Hotch because if he did stare him in the eye Reid knew he would know instantly. An excellent poker player due to his math skills, but bluffing was not a talent Reid excelled at, at least not to those he held any regard for. Unsub’s and strangers were different. It was that knowledge which spurred Hotch into action. That and the fact that as soon as they had landed and returned to the BAU he’d slunk off without telling anyone he was leaving. If Reid wanted to hide something so badly he was prepared to sneak around, avoid and lie to them, then the only reason he’d do that would be if he was afraid. Afraid of what Hotch didn’t know yet, but it was something he wanted to find out.

It had taken far too long for Reid to register his presence in the corridor, not like he’d been hiding. Hotch smiled and greeted him and when Reid’s face settled, the shock and surprise transformed into guilt and, worse of all, fear. He looked pained and sad and so very, very young and in that moment Hotch knew he’d made the right decision.

Reid trying to hide his tears was the last straw. Tightening his hold on Spencer’s skinny arms, one hand gripping his shoulder Hotch looked him in the eye.

“I’m here for you.”


End file.
